Herbert Haseltine French/American, 1877-1962
Middle White Sow (Wharfedale Royal Lady), 1925
Polished bronze with opaque ochre patina
4 ⅛ x 8 ⅛ x 3 ⅝ inches
Period speckled Belgian marble base: 1 ½ x 7 x 3 inches
Overall height: 5 ⅝ inches
Period speckled Belgian marble base: 1 ½ x 7 x 3 inches
Overall height: 5 ⅝ inches
This bronze statuette of a Middle White sow is part of Haseltine’s series of twenty British Champion animals, his major body of work in the 1920s. This pig is “Wharfedale...
This bronze statuette of a Middle White sow is part of Haseltine’s series of twenty British Champion
animals, his major body of work in the 1920s. This pig is “Wharfedale Royal Lady,” bred by and the
property of Leopold C. Paget, Esq., of Middlethorpe Hall in York. This sow was the first and breed
Champion at the Show of the Royal Agricultural Society of England in 1921 and 1923 and won the first
and Champion prizes at the Yorkshire show in 1923.
In 1921, Haseltine began a series, The Champion Domestic Animals of Great Britain, from agricultural
shows across Great Britain, using the animals themselves as models. The series included draft horses, a
hunting horse, a polo pony, sheep, cattle, and pigs.
Haseltine was born to American parents, but grew up and studied in Europe, adopting the naturalism of
the French animalier sculptors in his early years. However, through study of Egyptian sculptures at the
Louvre, Haseltine took on the stylization and rich surface decoration of the sphinxes and other animal
sculpture, which can be seen in the British Champion Animals series.
“As my technique has developed, I have come to realize that sculpture should be closely
associated with the choice of beautiful materials and patinas, such as you see in examples
of Egyptian, Greek, and Chinese art, and later in that of the Italian Renaissance. As much
attention should be given to the preserving of beautiful patinas as that of the original
colors of great paintings.” -Herbert Haseltine, National Sculpture Society’s American
Sculptors Series 7
The idealization and stylization of this series, based on the ancient sculptures of which Haseltine was so
fond, was a popular approach to sculpture in the 1920s. Simplifying the models to their “significant
forms” was part of a modern rebirth of sculpture in this period of Art Deco, but Haseltine was partial to
the magnificence of history and aimed to strike a harmonious balance between realism and the ideal form.
Haseltine completed his model of the Middle White Boar: Wharfedale Deliverance, but was so struck bythe “beauty – beauty from the sculptural point of view” of Deliverance’s daughter, “Wharfedale RoyalLady,” that he stayed to model her as well – his last in the series. Both Middle White models share aturned-up nose, straight back, and blocked vision due to their rolls of fat. Haseltine described his model as“so flamboyantly pregnant that she could hardly waddle, and therefore made an excellent model. To heralso I gave lumps of sugar and although she could not see me, I am sure she would have given me theglad eye, if she had only had the chance.” He reported that the next day, she had seventeen piglets.
animals, his major body of work in the 1920s. This pig is “Wharfedale Royal Lady,” bred by and the
property of Leopold C. Paget, Esq., of Middlethorpe Hall in York. This sow was the first and breed
Champion at the Show of the Royal Agricultural Society of England in 1921 and 1923 and won the first
and Champion prizes at the Yorkshire show in 1923.
In 1921, Haseltine began a series, The Champion Domestic Animals of Great Britain, from agricultural
shows across Great Britain, using the animals themselves as models. The series included draft horses, a
hunting horse, a polo pony, sheep, cattle, and pigs.
Haseltine was born to American parents, but grew up and studied in Europe, adopting the naturalism of
the French animalier sculptors in his early years. However, through study of Egyptian sculptures at the
Louvre, Haseltine took on the stylization and rich surface decoration of the sphinxes and other animal
sculpture, which can be seen in the British Champion Animals series.
“As my technique has developed, I have come to realize that sculpture should be closely
associated with the choice of beautiful materials and patinas, such as you see in examples
of Egyptian, Greek, and Chinese art, and later in that of the Italian Renaissance. As much
attention should be given to the preserving of beautiful patinas as that of the original
colors of great paintings.” -Herbert Haseltine, National Sculpture Society’s American
Sculptors Series 7
The idealization and stylization of this series, based on the ancient sculptures of which Haseltine was so
fond, was a popular approach to sculpture in the 1920s. Simplifying the models to their “significant
forms” was part of a modern rebirth of sculpture in this period of Art Deco, but Haseltine was partial to
the magnificence of history and aimed to strike a harmonious balance between realism and the ideal form.
Haseltine completed his model of the Middle White Boar: Wharfedale Deliverance, but was so struck bythe “beauty – beauty from the sculptural point of view” of Deliverance’s daughter, “Wharfedale RoyalLady,” that he stayed to model her as well – his last in the series. Both Middle White models share aturned-up nose, straight back, and blocked vision due to their rolls of fat. Haseltine described his model as“so flamboyantly pregnant that she could hardly waddle, and therefore made an excellent model. To heralso I gave lumps of sugar and although she could not see me, I am sure she would have given me theglad eye, if she had only had the chance.” He reported that the next day, she had seventeen piglets.
Join our mailing list
* denotes required fields
We will process the personal data you have supplied in accordance with our privacy policy (available on request). You can unsubscribe or change your preferences at any time by clicking the link in our emails.